Detention
by Mistybow
Summary: Before the days of the proper Hunger Games was Detention. 48 students are picked to fight to the death in an arena for survival. But, you wouldn't expect students to kill each other voluntarily would you? With the tracking chips implanted in them, if no one kills within a sixteen hour time limit then someone will be killed at random. That should be enough of a push... Or is it?
1. 1: Denique, Pre-Listing

"Be careful!" Cried Sarah, her hands were creeping up to cover her mouth.

"I know what I'm doing," Zoe reassured, her brow was sweating as she lowered the blade down.

"Oh, no! You're going to break it!" Sarah moaned, Zoe gave her a swift glance before turning back to focus on her target.

"Shut up and let her cut, we'll all get some," I said calmly.

"Yeah, it's not like its brain surgery," Jaz agreed, Sarah looked at Jaz in shock.

"It may as well be with what we're cutting!" She exclaimed, with a slightly shaking hand Zoe made the incision and sliced straight down the middle. I heard Sarah whimper as some of the sides crumbled off but most still held. She turned it and cut the cheesecake into even quarters. She slid the knife out and smiled at her work.

"There, all done," Zoe confirmed, Sarah smiled at us all and sighed. We had our containers ready to take everything home in. We scooped up our individual pieces and sealed our containers. Before we sealed them though, a silent agreement passed through us all to try some. So be broke off a piece and tried our creation, baked cheesecake. I was someone that didn't like cheesecake at all, but this I could make an exception for.

"Sarah, you're too good at acting," I said to the now very happy Sarah.

"I try," She beamed; we said goodbye to Jaz and Zoe and headed for the bus stop with our cheesecake packed safely away in our bags.

"Hey, did you see the new principal?" She asked me as we climbed the hill to the bus stop. We half stumbled half walked over the other side and saw the bus waiting for us.

"No, I didn't know we had a new one," I said, this was the first I had heard of this. It was only our second term with our new principal and now we got another one. We climbed onto the bus and found a seat.

"Well, we got a new one. People think he's crazy, like he's got some kind of plan for world domination," She explained.

"Oh, so he must be related to you then?" He asked, she shoved my playfully and the bus begun to move away from the school.

"Well, we'll see tomorrow at whole school parade won't we?" Sarah replied. I rubbed my arms and looked up at the aircon vent above my head.

"It's cold in here," I stated, Sarah glanced at the aircon vent then at me.

"Just like your heart," She retorted, I looked at her with a mixed expression of shock and amusement. Realising what she had just said, she laughed nervously and waved her hands in front of her.

"No! I didn't mean it!" She added hastily, I smiled and shook my head to say that it was alright.

"You're mean Sarah," I said with a smile.

"Dark humour isn't everyone's cup of liquidised baby," She commented, I stared at her again and for the rest of the ride home we laughed about all of the things that were so ridiculous, people would think we were crazy.  
I got off the bus and walked home with my sister talking to her friend that lives up the street from us walking behind me. I reached the house, put my spare keys in the front door and opened it. My sister rushed in front of me and started unpacking her bag. Of course I'm not going to go into the details of home life since it is very normal and therefore very boring so I'm going to skip all of that and give you a bit of information about what's going on right now.  
Term two for us started last week and, unknowingly, we got a new principal. It explained why we didn't have whole school parade (assembly, whatever you want to call it) on that first week back and why all of the teachers have been so jumpy. But something else seems to be up; now that I think about it Sarah's notion of him planning to take over the world doesn't seem too far off. But like she said, we'll find out tomorrow in whole school parade.

As I switched off my light for the night, the thoughts of the new school principal didn't stop. They actually kept me awake for the rest of the night. I fell asleep around three hours later and only got six hours sleep which, for me, wasn't a lot. Unlike one my friends, Hayley, whom could survive on any number hours of sleep and still be the happy person she is.  
I got up, had breakfast, brushed my hair, brushed my teeth, you know, the usual routine for a normal high schooler in the morning. We left for school and went to the spot that my friends usually hung out at in the mornings. I was met with Hayley and Taryn sitting there, talking to each other.

Hayley is smart, wears glasses, thin framed, in front of her brown eyes, put her curly hair up into a bun or a plait down her shoulder, that day it was a plait, and always has a smile on her face. She is into music and plays the piano outside of school so she's really good with patterns and rhythm. She is kind and has a big heart, but can also be quite funny. Taryn had brown, wild eyes, long dark brown hair that she puts in a side ponytail or just a normal one down her back. She used to play basketball, so she was the tallest and sturdiest built out of all of us. We always say that something is wrong with her, that her head is somewhere else other than here but that didn't make her any less entertaining. I sat down next to Taryn and watched as Zoe came to sit with us. Zoe would have to be close to the same height as Taryn with the same broad shoulders, she had dark blonde hair that she left out and would sometimes turn into loose ringlets down her shoulders. Zoe didn't use words very often, she was always quiet with her head in a book of some kind, but when she did speak it was either to insult someone, to make a joke or to tell us one of her personal experiences that related with the subject.

"So, what's new?" Hayley begun, I shrugged, Zoe shrugged, Taryn's eyes lit up.

"Did you guys see the new Hunger Games trailer that came out?" She asked with excitement brimming in her voice. Taryn loved the Hunger Games trilogy; she actually tried to throw knives at her wall once for training. In fear of her biting off my head I nodded slowly, I think Hayley had the same idea and followed my action.

"Yeah, I reckon it was really good," Zoe mumbled as she took out a book from her bag.

"Yeah, but they only showed stuff about the victory tour," Taryn complained, she looked over my head to where Mikayla was coming to sit beside me. Mikayla was a thin, tall person with short mousy brown hair and bright blue eyes. Mikayla drew manga and was very good at it too. She was a positive person that always got up me for being so negative and was all about being cute. She put her bag down and came to sit beside me.

"What are we talking about?" She asked as she sat beside me, Hayley explained what was going on and the conversation continued. Slowly the rest of our friends arrived, Jaz, Chloe and Sally.

Jaz is a tall slim girl in the extension classes with Hayley, Sally, Mikayla and I. She had dark brown shoulder length hair with a side fringe that she had pinned up. Basically put, she was one of those people that would make your self-esteem go down the drain because of how pretty she was. She did netball outside of school so she was very athletic. The thing that I liked about Jaz was that she wasn't all snooty and posh like her team mates, and I used to play against them. Chloe had had brownish blonde hair that almost touched her elbows, she had recently gotten her tips dyed blue and people hadn't stopped complementing them. Sally is half Indonesian so she had beautifully tanned skin, brown eyes and black hair that was brushed back into the usual ponytail. She played tennis outside of school and did violin, and no matter how much pressure was put on her from her parents she would always be the life of the party.

We sat there talking about all of the good and bad things about the new Hunger Games trailer when the bell rang. We all reminded each other that it was whole school parade that day, hoisted our heavy bags onto our backs and together we forwarded off. As Hayley, Sally, Jaz Mikayla and I walked down with the rest of our friends behind us, Hayley picked up a very good observation.

"Why are all the teachers going down as well?" She asked us and we strode towards the massive structure of the indoor basketball court.

"Uh, because they're meant to be there?" Mikayla replied slowly, Jaz nodded in agreement.

"But only teachers that have form classes go to parade, not every single teacher." Hayley added, Mikayla shrugged.

"Maybe I'm getting an award." Sally wondered wistfully, she stroked her chin like she was trying to figure out some really hard maths problem.

"Yeah, for what? World's stupidest hair?" Asked Krystal as she strolled past. Krystal, not one good thing to say about her. Her reddish pink dyed hair was a mistake to gain attention; she had forward moved teeth that you could see when she smiled. She always boasted about how good she was at cheerleading, and always had her possie behind her. Jessica, the long distance runner and star of primary school, Brianna, the blonde chubby thing that just wanted to be in a group and Sky, thin and about up to my shoulder in height with eyes popping out of her head.

We stared at her as they walked right past, giggling at their leader's joke. I shook my head in distaste and Jaz poked her tongue out at the backs of their heads. I heard Chloe mutter something behind me and Taryn sighed in disgust.

"Bitch..." I heard Zoe say under her breath but loud enough for us to hear. As we made our way closer to the basketball courts, or MSC (Multi Sport Complex), the crowds of students got bigger and the sound of over lapping conversations and shuffling feet grew louder until it was all just one big noisy crowd surging towards the doors. I tried to keep an eye on my friends but they kept disappearing in the throngs of people. It was a strange feeling, being in the crowd, it was like a river forcing you to flow only one way. I never liked the confined spaces of these crowds; I liked to be out and away from it all but most of all in the water. I loved swimming because that was practically the only physical thing I was good at. I tried again to search for my friends.

The last glimpse I got of my friends before I was in the centre of the crowd was Hayley's head forwarding into the darkness of the bag bay just outside the MSC. I wasn't that far away from her but; however hard I tried I knew I wouldn't be able to reach her. The two massive doors that forced us to enter the MSC through the bag bay was like a rock in the river that would split us in two. I followed the crowd through the doors and passed by the shelves that were meant for our bags. I never left my bag there and carried it inside, I didn't exactly trust my bag not to be touched with people like Krystal around.

I trudged through the small room and felt my shoulder get bumped; I turned my head to see yet another possie, the popular people. Girls that dyed their hair and waxed their legs, had the best bags and shoes and wore tonnes of make-up. Emily, relatively short that always wore dark eyeliner and Vans, Tynisha, tall and sturdily built was one of them that actually scared me but had a laugh that sounded like a drowning kookaburra, Lindsay, basically following in Emily's footsteps and Megan, quiet with the slight possibility of being smart but still I felt sorry for her for hanging out with the wrong crowd. That was four of the six that passed me by without even a backwards glance to see whom it was they were shoving out of the way.

The other two are two that I am completely fascinated with, Taylor and Rihanna. Taylor plays with Jaz on the same netball team, she's tall and slim like her too. She had long dark brown slash black hair that she had chemically straightened and always made sure they covered her ears. She had, as far as I was concerned, never put on make-up or very little to the point that I didn't notice. Rihanna is short for her age with long naturally blonde hair. She would have to be one of the sportiest girls in the whole school. She played futsal outside of school and hockey as well; she would jump into any physical activity sport. Touch football, no problem, soccer, easy peasy, swimming, why not.  
I stared as the over flowingly confident students walked past with their heads held high, I smiled to myself knowing that none of them would have a higher IQ than a peanut. Except for Taylor, the reason why she was so fascinating to me was because she was quite smart but played dumb to impress... I had no idea why.

I could see the end of the bag bay looming where it would open up onto the massive indoor basketball court that gave the MSC its name. I always had a feeling since the first time I walked in that it felt like we were cows walking towards our slaughter. I saw teachers with forlorn expressions on their faces as they silently went along with the crowd and it didn't make me feel any better. My maths teacher, Mr Mesner, had a look of such sadness it shocked me to my core. Usually he had some kind of stressed face or tired expression but this was just strange. I forwarded out and shielded my eyes against the sudden glare of the large fluorescent lights above us.

The first thing I saw was a long black stage along the long wall off to my right. Teachers stood with their backs against the walls, some looking down at us with excitement others with concerned and worried looks. One teacher was struggling to hold back tears that had sprung into her eyes. I tried with all my might to twist me neck around to find at least one pair of familiar eyes and found Mikayla's calm blue ones searching the crowd as she exited the bag bay. I twisted my head back around to the front to find my form class and sit with them, as I shuffled towards my area I passed by Hayley who was looking up at me with the same expression, I assumed, I was giving her, terror.

Once in my spot, I waited for a few more people to sit down and the place to calm down a bit before I too sat. That was when I noticed two large glass balls with paper in them up on the stage.


	2. 2: Hayley, Listing

Warning: Swearing! Some people might not care but I feel like I must inform you!

* * *

Denique walked past me with an almost unreadable mask, but that mask had cracks in it. Beneath those cracks was a great amount of worry along with her usual deep thinking that most people couldn't see. I then caught sight of Sally who had also caught onto the fact that something wasn't right; she made her way a little way down and sat. As everyone else was settling, Sarah came to sit next to me with the same worried expression that my friends wore.

"Do you know what's going on?" I asked her, she looked at me and shrugged.

"I thought you would know," She commented quietly, shook my head.

"Why would I know something if you wouldn't know it too?" I asked her, a smile stretched across my face. She put her hands up surrender.

"Because you know everything!" She argued, I raised my eyebrows and she smiled. We turned our attention to the stage that was now visible through the sitting students.

A man with greyish white hair stepped up to the stage and stood between the two crystal balls. The teachers stayed in their spots at the walls of the basketball court, a few filed around the students. My HPE teacher came to stand just beside where Sarah and I were sitting, a spot not too far away from the wall.

"Hey sir, do you know what's going on?" I asked curiously, Mr Crosby, my teacher. He turned his worried eyes towards Sarah and I who were looking up at him expectantly. He shook his head as if to say that he couldn't answer and went back to staring at the stage. I glanced at Sarah before trying to ask another teacher.

"Hey, Ms Ferguson. What's going on here?" I asked her, gaining her attention. She looked around her like she was scared she was going to be heard.

"Something you don't want to be a part of." She said in a dark, rushed voice. The sound of feedback from a microphone rang in my ears and with a final glance at my science teacher of whom was motion with her head towards the stage I turned my head towards the horrid sound.

The man with the grey hair had acquired a microphone from a part of the tech crew and an eerie silence had settled over the crowd of students. He had some kind of crazed look in his eye that reminded me of a cartoon character.

"Hey, you know yesterday on the bus? I thought that he was, like, some kind of guy to take over the world. He kind of looks like it doesn't he?" Sarah asked me, I nodded in agreement without taking my eyes off the stage.

I looked behind me for a comforting set of eyes and found them looking at me, the bright green ones of Michael. We had met one night while I was playing hockey just before school started, my friend introduced me to him and we found that we had a similar taste in music. We both played instruments, I played piano and he played guitar. When we went back to school, I discovered that instead of doing year ten music I got put up a year into year eleven. We were in the same music class so I would see him twice a week. Eventually he came back to hockey to see me play again and it kind took off from there.

"Attention, attention please," The grey haired man called to the students that had started to murmur. Everyone fell silent again almost instantly.

"Thank you; welcome everyone to the new term. Term two I believe. We have something new in store for you," He sounded absolutely delighted which I didn't think would be possible for someone with such a rough, deep voice. He looked like he could be the new school principal; he looked friendly and menacing at the same time.

"We are going to change forty eight lives forever! I'm starting up a compulsory program called Detention." He stated, looking out over the confused faces. Screw friendly, this guy was crazy!

"Hey genius, we already have detention," One of the students shouted, that earned the voice a few laughs and a forced grin from the principal.

"This is going to be a detention like no other," He rasped, that sent a shiver down my spine and I could tell Sarah didn't really like it either.

"In this detention, there will be no lines or rubbish picking up or teacher supervision or anything like that," He said, cheers rang out throughout the basketball court and when he raised his hand everyone went quiet.

"Instead, you will have your name put into one of these glass balls. It depends on how bad you were to how many times your name gets put in. Littering is about two times, graffiti maybe five," He explained, I didn't like where this was going. I could feel that I somehow knew what was going to happen.

"Then, each year, we will pick out forty eight names, twenty four girls and twenty four boys, to go into Detention," He was slowly getting to the point and it was killing me. I had to know what was going on even if the reasonable voice in the back of my head told me I wouldn't want to.

"They shall be put on show for the whole country to see, they will be transported to a place known as the Preparation Centre to be made up for a parade where we will show them off to everyone so they can see just how beautiful they are." The sinking feeling in my stomach hit me like a tonne of bricks when Taryn tapped me on the back. It was almost exactly like the Hunger Games. I looked around me, faces that had eyes sparkling and excitement brimming.

"After the parade and three days' worth of training, they will be sent into the arena. To fight to the death." That shocked everyone; some of the teachers that were holding back tears let them flow. There were gasps and surprised cries coming from the students as they processed this.

"Only one shall come out alive from Detention, they will be bathed in glory and riches, and the class that they have come from will be safe the next time their year level is chosen." I shook my head as the volume of the crowd rose until I could barely hear myself think. I looked around to see Sally shouting in protest, Mikayla with her innocent blue eyes wider than the moon and Taryn confused with her current emotion. Zoe was looking around to find someone; Jaz was staring in shock at the man that claimed to be the principal on the stage and Denique was looking around at the crowd. Her eyes fell on me and although she gave nothing away I could tell she was nervous from the way she held her hands in her lap and the smile she gave me. I turned back to the stage and tried to say something but my throat was dry.

People were standing up now, outraged and scared for what was going on around them. The man up on stage looked calmly down at the chaos unfolding around him. He nodded to someone off stage and gunfire sounded above our heads. Both teachers and students screamed, I covered my ears and ducked my head slightly. Even through my fingers, I could hear Mikayla's shrill scream from my left. When the gunfire stopped everyone stopped screaming and wailing.

"Glad I've got your attention," The man said, the tension in the room had only gotten worse.

"Now, it's time for the Listing or choosing of the naughty little kids that are going into Detention. First we choose which year level we are choosing from, year seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven or twelve. Then we choose six classes from the year level. Each class will have a Supervisor, a mentor of sorts, to look after you and give you tips before you into Detention," He stopped, in my opinion, abruptly; I thought he was going to say more. The pause shocked everyone which I found he was quite good at doing, shocking people.

"So, let's begin the Listing," He cried like he expected some kind of round of applause. No one did anything. A teacher aid scrambled up to the stage with two containers in each hand, she held them in front of the principal. The man dipped his hand into the first container under his nose. He pulled a piece of paper from the container and unfolded it, a grin crossed his face.

"The year level we will be listing from is," He paused again which had started to get on my nerves. "Year ten."

That was my year level, I stiffened and felt Sarah tense beside me, I glanced her way, she was staring intently at the stage. My heartbeat quickened as the fear settled into the year tens, my palms started sweating and I rubbed them on my shirt. The lady put down the first container and the man dipped his hand into the second container.

"The first class that will be going into Detention will be," Another pause, my fists clenched and I closed my eyes hoping it wasn't one of my classes. "10 A HPE! Your mentor will be Mr Crosby."

Fuck, I couldn't help it but... Fuck. Why? Straight up it was my class, why? I snapped my head around and found Michael's eyes almost instantly, he knew. He knew my classes and he knew practically everyone in them. If I was chosen along with the people in my class, I would be screwed. Half of them were athletes, Olympic material, the other half were geniuses, capable of going and graduating at Cambridge. Maybe I was exaggerating because of the tension but that was what was running through my mind right then and there as I attempted to find a safe abode in Michael's eyes.

The horrid person on stage made his way to the glass ball on his right. "Ladies first," he called to the crowd. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down, convincing myself that it was in no way going to be me. He stuck his hand into the glass bowl and forced himself to look away. He swirled it around before grabbing a name. He yanked his hand out and unfolded the piece of paper.

"Hayley," the certain smile I held on my face dropped. Sarah looked at me, utterly horrified. I was waiting for my last name but I knew there was only one Hayley in that class. I stood up and bit my lower lip as hard as I could. I focused on that pain as I slowly walked up onto the stage, forcing myself not to show any emotion. That was weakness now, emotion was weakness. I was about to step onto the stage when I heard rustling behind me, I turned around to see Michael coming towards me with two men behind him.

"Don't do it!" He cried, he came sprint towards me and when he was close enough grabbed my arm preventing me from moving anywhere. No, not now, I thought I might be able to make it up without crying but he was just making it impossible. He pulled me close to his chest with his mouth right beside my ear now.

"Don't step up there," He whispered, I stared out at the crowd and tried to blink back the tears that were threatening to stream down my face. Suddenly, he warm embrace was yanked away from me by the two men that were behind him before, he was dragged away and I watched as emotionlessly as I could. I turned back towards the stage with my eyes downwards. The lady directed me to the back of the stage where I waited while other names were called out.

I could not show emotion, I _would_ not show emotion, I was the first name picked for this sick game and I wasn't about to let anything stand in my way in getting back out here. Two girls came up that I didn't know and on the last name for the girls in my class did I finally look up. The name called was "Sally."

I watched in sympathy as the shocked girl made her way up on stage to stand at the end of the line that had formed. It was then that I knew this shit was getting real, if she was coming in with me and there could only be one winner... What was going to happen then? I would have to kill her or hope she got killed so I wouldn't have to. But why am I hoping my friend gets killed? Shouldn't I be wanting her to get out? But I wanted to get out too. I wanted to see Michael again, not just see him get hauled off somewhere. But Sally had her brother back in year one. Oh, dear God!

The boys were called up and I was shaken even more by them. If my prediction was to be correct, and the usually are, at least three out of the four boys chosen would team up. Gibbo, or Lachlan, was smart and short for his age but sturdily built with broad shoulders and thick arms, Ross, played AFL so he was quite fit he was tall and lanky with long dark curly hair and Declan, natural athlete with curly blonde hair and played rugby league.

The last one was a friend of mine, Matthew, he was relatively new and the teacher asked me to show him around on his first day. From there we became something of friends, although he would go and be with other guys and I had my own friends so we would just know each other a little more than acquaintances. Putting friendships aside, he was smart and could keep up well enough to be liked by more of the athletic boys in my grade.

He came to stand beside me with is hands behind his back, staring out at the crowd. I was told I was exceptionally good at reading people's emotions; his was basically an open book. He was worried, like the rest of us up there, curiosity was also there as well and that was something I could easily understand. After all, we didn't really know what was going to happen to each one of us, I just didn't think of this as being a good time to be curious.

"I'm sorry you had to be chosen," He murmured, barely moving his lips. I turned my head millimetres in his direction to reply.

"You too, I hope it doesn't come down to the fact that we have to kill each other," I returned, he sighed as the net class was called out.

"10 F Maths! Your mentor will be Ms Morre."

Most of the people in that class were dumb, but boy were they tough. The first name called up was Krystal, that red headed bimbo that insulted Sally that morning. I could almost feel a smiled spreading across my face as I imagined her dead; she wasn't exactly popular throughout the school so she was going to have lots of targets on her back. I zoned out during the rest of the names for that class, after all I could always get a list later on. Wherever I was going to be.

"10 C SOSE! Your mentor will be Mr Knight."

I was hoping that the rest of the classes called wouldn't bring in any more of my friends just like 10C and 10F didn't. There was no one that was interesting in that class but I reminded myself not to overlook anyone. One girl actually walked up there crying, I realised it was Emily a popular girl. Now that I saw it, Lindsay, Tynisha and Megan were all up there, I thought it was quite a coincidence. But just when I thought my friends might be safe...

"10 B Japanese! Your mentor will be Mr Smith."

Mikayla and Taryn's class, I begged to every God I could recall off the top of my head that they wouldn't be picked. First name picked for the girls was Tayne, a good friend of mine since year six. I gave her a sympathetic look as she made her way up on stage; she passed me by and gave me a reassuring smile. I shuffled my feet nervously and Matthew gave me a sidewards glance.

"Don't worry, they're never going to-"

"Taryn." Called the principal, my breath was caught in my throat. I dug my nails in my palms as I saw the tall figure of Taryn stand and stroll up to the stage. And... Was that confidence? She had half a smile hanging on her lips as she walked up onto the stage. She was happy?

"Mikayla." Oh no, not delicate, little Mikayla, not her. She can't go into something like this; she'll never make it out alive. Not saying at that point I didn't have faith in her but she wasn't at all strong or a good sprinter. But I heard she does pretty well at endurance, but what was that going to do for her if she needs to get a weapon from the Cornucopia or whatever they're going to call it.

Also, Sarah's friend Lauren got called up, I couldn't believe how pale she was and I thought she was going to faint as soon as she got up on stage. But no, she kept her eyes down and went to where the lady directed her to without so much as a trip.

I felt Matthew's hand slip into mine and give me a comforting squeeze, I was thinking that he didn't understand but the truth was that some of his friends were getting called up as well as mine. We were in this together.

"10 A Hospitality! Your mentor will be Ms Holland."

Jaz's class, please let her not be picked! But again my prayer went unheard as she was first one up followed by a disciple of Krystal, Jessica. Then Taylor who seemed happy to be up there with her friends and Zoe. That was the only class I fully listened to with the names of all the girls. The boys I took no notice to. Then it was the finally class, I had already seen half of my friends go up there and I didn't know how many more I could take. Rage was bubbling up inside me, along with hatred and pure utter fear. I had no special skills; I wasn't the fastest or strongest. But I could be the smartest, no, never. I must always doubt myself, doubt makes people work better.

"10 A Drama! Your mentor will be Mr McKenna."

Not this one, the last class had to have the last of our group that wasn't there yet. Denique and Sarah, I prayed. Third time's a charm right? Wrong.

"Sarah," I could hear a sharp gasp come from somewhere down the line, I assumed it was Lauren. I searched the crowd but it wasn't really that hard to find her, she was right at the front and half of the kids had come up to the stage anyway. At first she looked dazed, and then reality came in her eyes almost like a light bulb had switched on in her brain. She stood up stiffly and walked towards the stage, she had her head down so her shoulder length black hair was like a curtain over her eyes but she could still see where she was going.

The next to be called up was another follower of Krystal's gang, Brianna. She trudged up onto the stage and ignored the woman's directions to stand at the end of the line, she stood next to Krystal. The third girl to be called out was a girl named Sequoia; she was a tall beautiful girl with long dyed red hair although not as attention seeking as Krystal's. She would be a challenge in this game because of her determination. I should know, I have half my classes with her.

The last name of the girls, and there were many of them in that class. There was no way Denique could be picked, no way in the world. But I knew from that morning alone that no one was safe and when her name was called she stood up immediately, like she expected it to be called. Her head was held high as she walked towards the stage, not in confidence, in defiance. Almost challenging them to kill her right then and there. I could see the wheels spinning in her head at a billion miles an hour, profiling each and everyo0ne one of them, even me.

She was directed to the end of the line and the rest of the boys were called out. Three more athletes that didn't look very smart and a little nerdy looking kid, Ben I think his name was? Once everyone was in their positions the principal step back and looked at all of us, frightened and unsure.

"These are going to be the people you are going to see in Detention. They are going to go by train to the Preparation Centre where we will be broadcasting live to the nation the parade of the Listed," He said, I shook my head and felt that I was no long squeezing Matthew's hand, he was squeezing mine.

"But before we let them go and meet their mentors, because we aren't completely heartless we are going to let them say goodbye to two people of their choice. Good luck in Detention!" He finished, the stunned silence was horrible but before anyone could say anything we were moved off. Out the back door of the basketball court. Chatter started to come from the popular group and Krystal's refined possie that then spread to everyone.

People were split up and shoved into classrooms, one per person. I pushed into my old year eight English classroom. A teacher aid asked whom I would like to see before I leave. I sighed and ran through the choices in my head, the first one I thought of was Michael but I also had another choice. I thought of friends, I thought of my sister Kimberley and my brother Alistair. I decided I would go with my older sister Kimberley. I told her my choices and the teacher aid left, leaving me in a dark, quiet classroom.

"This would be a great place to film a horror movie," I said to myself, and I was right. I distracted myself from the craziness of reality by making a storyline and characters to fit in with the scene. A murderer with a knife, no chainsaw, a chainsaw with knives on it, had trapped a little girl in the corner. He raised the chainsaw above his head and...

"This looks like something out of a horror movie," A familiar voice said, I turned around to see Kimberley standing in the doorway. She cautiously walked in but before she could walk two steps towards me, I had flung myself into her arms. I let the tears finally run down my cheeks as I cried into my sister's shoulder. She stroked my hair and hugged me tight.

"Don't worry; I know you're going to get out of there. I know you are," She said comfortingly, I pulled away from her and wiped my eyes.

"I can't do anything!" I sobbed; she stared at me and shook her head.

"You can, I know you can you're my little sister! Your smart, you got into the higher class for a reason. You are strong; I've seen you in hockey. It just depends if you want to sharpen those skills or if you want to work on your weaknesses to be an all-rounder in this competition," She explained, I nodded and thought about it. She had a point; I could either sharpen my skills or go for my weaknesses.

"Either way, I know you will do your best. I know you're going to survive," She pulled me into a hug and we stood like that until the teacher aid came back. We stood away from each other and with a final, reassuring smile left on her face she was led away.

The door seemed to be shut for only a second before Michael burst in. He wrapped his arms around me and I didn't hesitate to return it. I took in his warmth, his scent, his touch, everything I savoured because I knew that was what was going to keep me going in my mind. _I whenever I felt I was slipping from sanity, I would remember this_ I thought. He grabbed my arms and pulled me away to look at me.

"You're going to be fine, okay? I promise, you will be okay," He said, his voice wobbling slightly. I could feel the tears pushing through again and I didn't want to go out crying.

"How can you promise if you won't even be there?" I whispered, it wouldn't take a genius to hear the hopelessness in my voice and I could tell it hit him hard.

"Because I will be watching from the side lines, cheering you on," I could tell he was about to breakdown. He was staying strong for me because if he broke I would surely follow.

"I will always be here," He added, putting two fingers on my temple. I put my hand on his two fingers and sighed.

"I know you will," I agreed, I could see him trying so hard not to just crack and it gave me some kind of new strength. To try and get back to him, to my sister, to my brother, to my friends that hadn't been chosen and to never forget the ones that were.

We hugged again and he kissed me softly on the cheek, something that I knew I couldn't afford to forget in Detention. It was going to mess with my head, I could feel it. It was going to mess up many heads but more specifically mine, because I was already turning into a killer. The way I was think, hoping someone else would kill my friends so I wouldn't have to do it. Planning on what strengths and weaknesses I could use to my advantage.

Suddenly the door opened and in came the two men from before when Michael tried to stop me from going up on stage. They grabbed him by the arms and although he struggled a little, he let them lead him away. He looked up at me, those beautiful green eyes.

"I love you, okay? And don't forget-" The door slammed in his face before he finished. I stared at the closed door, waiting for them to let him back in. Nothing, no sound, absolute silence. The expectant smile fell from my face as I realised he wasn't coming back. I shook my hand and ran to the door. I knocked on it, knocked on it again and shouted for him to come back. No answer. I took a deep breath and knocked harder with few gaps in between, still nothing. My knocks got more and more violent and until I was pounding on the door, screaming for him to come back and finish what he was going to say.

But still there was no answer.


	3. 3: Denique, To the train station

It was a little ominous to here Hayley screaming in the room next to me, actually it made everything ten times worse. To hear such a strong girl like her break, and so early too. I honestly thought she would have lasted longer. But then again I didn't know what she's going through right now. She had the boyfriend, not me.

After seeing my sister and letting her cry into my shoulder I realised that I will be doing this for her. Right now things in our family are starting to get tough for us, nothing drastic but a bit annoying.

I sighed and looked around the room, I saw a small bookshelf up against the back wall and walked over to it. In it were a whole heap of books (duh), based on maths and science. I was particularly intrigued by the ones: _Geography: A Brief Insight, The Wonderful World of Chemistry _and _Botany and its History_. I thought these might come in handy later so I searched and found a small carry bag in the draw of the teacher's desk.

Once packed inside I walked over and sat on a desk as far away from the wall that separated Hayley and I as I could get. Slowly her shouts got softer and the hitting against the wall stopped. Soon it was just a dull, rhythmic thump that I heard from her room.

I knew that soon the visiting hours (more like minutes) will be over and they will gather us onto a train and off to, where did he say? The preparation centre? I think that was it.

I started braiding a thin strand of my hair out of boredom, I guess now was the time to be think of strategies. But all I could think of was how many of my friends got into this position.

Sally, my best friend that has remained true for eight years. Mikayla, my newest friend whom is still learning the ropes. Hayley, who had been the first to find love in our group. Jaz, a kind and caring person whom has many people who care for her.

Also who I'm going to be going up against, athletes, geniuses, popular princesses. I didn't know why I was so worried about them but they will have connections to bigger threats.

Then there was the people in my class, the boys. Beaudean, an athlete, Ben, a nerd, Tyler, Beaudean's friend, and Harvey, another nerd. The girls, me, Sarah, another one of my new friends of whom I had seen around school, Brianna, a fat blonde suck up to Krystal, and Sequoia, a strong, determine girl that is smarter than me. She would be one to look out for.

A teacher aid gingerly opened the door to my class room and I looked up at her. She motioned with her head for me to come out and I obeyed, sliding off the desk and walking out the door. With the carry bag slung over my shoulder I strolled out of the class room and followed the thin stream of students as they made their way back to the basketball courts.

The teacher aid that had let me out jogged up to my side and pointed to the bag slung over my shoulder.

"Did you have that when you went in there?" She asked, suspiciously. I tried to look shocked at her accusation, I guess this is where learning drama comes in handy.

"Of course I did, do you think anyone in their right mind would want to steal books from a class room?" I asked, sounding offended. The teacher threw me a look of disbelief and I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to go and get the principal and see what he think about this charade," the teacher threatened as she stormed of in the direction I assumed was towards the principal.

I had to act quickly to get rid of these books, I quickened my walking pace as I moved through the crowd. I had to first of all put as much distance as I could between me and that teacher as I could. I weaved through the crowd as I made my way to the front saying a few apologies as I did.

Then I saw Ben, he had a bag slung over his shoulder. I quickly made my way up until I was just behind him. You had to admire his courage, he looked as scared as anything but he still joked around as though it was as easy as breathing. I quickly pulled out my book and carefully slipped them into his bag and dropped back a little way. I watched him briefly from a distance to see if he noticed but there was no sign._ I'll just have to collect the books later_, I thought to myself.

That was part one, part two was I had to make myself a discreet as possible. I took off the carry bag and casually moved to the side of the crowd where I discarded it. I then took my hair out of its ponytail and shoved my hands into my pockets. I looked into the reflection of a mirror to see if the teacher was coming or anywhere close by.

She was right at the end of the crowd, the principal at her side. She was searching the crowds for me. As I walked by Krystal, I noticed that her bag was half open. I quickly dipped my hand into the bag and pulled out a black headband with a bow on it. I slowed my pace and quickly slipped it on, making my way more towards the centre of the crowd. Unfortunately that meant closer to the teacher, but I was confident she wouldn't notice me.

As we went back into the basketball courts we were directed into different groups so that it would be easier to get us onto the train. As we were separated, I saw Sally walking towards her group with her head down. I resisted the urge to yell out to her as it would draw attention and surely blow my cover. I continued on to my group as I quickly slid off the headband and tied my hair back up again so no one would question me upon my appearance.

We were the first to leave, my group, with our supervisor, Mr McKenna at the head. I kept my eyes down as they directed us into a limousine, quite luxurious if you cared to notice, in which they drove us to the train station. In the limo, the air was tense and no one spoke for a few minutes before Ben struck up a conversation with the other boys in the class of ours.

"You nervous?" Sarah begun, I turned my eyes to her and nodded.

"Of course you are, we're going to die!" Brianna exclaimed, making the boys' conversation pause briefly before continuing.

"I'm just starting a conversation, not trying to make things worse," Sarah retorted.

"I'm just saying what's true."

"Yeah, well, it's not helping."

"Shut up, Brianna," Sequoia jumped in, Sarah shot Sequoia a thankful look but she ignored it.

"Hey, all of you, stop it!" Mr McKenna shouted causing everyone to go silent and stare at him. It was then that I realised how much he had riding on his shoulders, he had six innocent lives in his hands and he had to help them all win. Which meant losing five of them. Or all of them.

"Look," he begun, "I'm just as scared as any of you are. If I fail you, it's a death penalty for you. I don't know why I was picked for this, I didn't want to be, but I was and I'm going to try and get you through all of this."

That shut everyone up for the rest of the ride to the train station, it put everything in perspective for us that no amount of joking or avoiding the subject could stop the inevitable. It was impossible to escape our next few mentally challenging weeks, or our death sentences.

But no one broke down in tears, I honestly thought Brianna would but the whole time she had a smug little look on her face that she would occasionally flash at Sequoia. I just stared at the floor of the limo with my finger in twined with each other.

When we got to the train station, we were directed to the end carriage, or should I say few carriages. It included living quarters with a bathroom in each bedroom for ourselves. Another carriage held dining quarters with a small bar in it, I assumed that we would have meals delivered to us from a different carriage.

Before we got onto the train I made sure to carefully remove my three books from Ben's bag. I kept them close to my chest so that they wouldn't be too noticeable. I avoided everyone as I made my way to my bedroom, I had to get away from them. Everyone had become so tense after Mr McKenna's little speech. I'm sure they would be better after a few hours.

I made sure my door was locked when I got to my bedroom, I didn't know that Sarah was following the whole way.

I heard her knock on my door, I quickly shoved the three books under my bed and ran to the door. I must have looked like a mess because she looked at me strangely.

"Are you okay?" she asked with concern laced in her voice. I debated not wanting to let her in on my secret of stealing the books but I knew it was going to ruin me if I didn't tell someone. And I had to be in a good, strong mind set for Detention.

"Come in," I said in a low voice, she gave me a confused look before sliding into my room. She looked around as I dragged out the books from under my bed. She glance at them before turning her attention back to me.

"Books?" she asked pointing at them, I nodded.

"I stole them from school."

"What?!"

"I stole them from school."

"Oh, my God. You badass!" I rolled my eyes at that comment.

"I thought I could use something from these." Sarah looked at the books and nodded in understanding.

"Definitely," she agreed. I looked back over the books.

If I was going to get a leg up in this competition it was going to be what smidgen if intellect I have, and boy was I going to use it. No one would see it coming, I would lay low until the competition and spring people by surprise. Lay low, I was good at that, being average, blending in. I no longer cared about what that others thought about me, how they sympathise for me if I wasn't the best at something because I would have something going on behind the scenes. Something that they wouldn't know about. And I would use my behind the scenes knowledge to help my friends out a well, just as long as the don't turn savage and stab me in the back.

But right then, I had a lot of studying to do.


	4. 4: Sally, All Aboard

I sighed and joined my class as we forwarded into the basketball courts, my head was still spinning from the whole morning. But I was thinking clearer than I was when I was in the little classroom, a lot clearer. I was watching peoples every move, flinching every time someone raised their hand too quickly or bumped into me.

Well, there was no rule about not being scared was there? Then my eyes quickly caught the sight of Hayley, moving swiftly but not hurriedly through the crowd. She had her eyes cast downwards and there was a tinge of red around them. She had been crying.

She must have seen Michael, it must have been hard. Why would she do that to herself? Put herself through that kind of pain before coming out here? Probably just to see him one last time.

She raised her eyes slightly and I caught her attention by waving to her. She smiled to me and made her way through the dispersing crowd to me. She definitely looked relieved to see me, or as relieved as you could get in that kind of a situation.

"How are you?" was me greeting and I could tell that, thankfully, it wasn't unwelcome.

"I'm as good as I can get right now," she answered, "You?"

"Me?" I looked around the basketball courts and saw one of the classes moving off. Amongst the heads I saw Denique and Sarah walking towards the exit.

"Like you I'm about as good as I can get." Hayley nodded thoughtfully at my answer.

"Are you scared?" she asked, almost shyly. I looked at her and smiled.

"Hayley, I'm scared shitless right now."

"You don't look like it." I took as a complement and grinned.

"You're not doing too bad yourself," I replied before our supervisor and HPE teacher Mr Crosby walked over to the group. I realised then that everyone was there, I thought there were still more to come.

"Alright guys, this is how it's going to work," he started, getting our attention, "They're going to escort the classes one by one last picked to first picked to a car each."

"From there they're going to drive us to the train station where they'll give us our assigned carriages for dining, bedrooms, all that stuff and we'll head off to the Preparation centre. I'll give you more information once I get it," we all nodded in response to this information.

Declan, Gibbo and Ross went to the back of the group to talk while Matthew, Hayley and I broke off into our own group.

"What do you think the train's gonna be like?" I asked them, trying to focus their attention on something else, and it worked.

"It's gonna have to be luxurious," Hayley suggested. Matt nodded and I tried to imagine it.

"Gold, red and rich browns with matching furniture," I stated putting that happy image into our heads.

"Yeah, and there's gonna have to be a buffet," Matt jumped in.

"Yes, I am liking this," Hayley murmured. Suddenly, we were being softly nudged towards the exit of the basketball courts. As Mr Crosby led us out of the hallway I heard a whiny voice in front of us.

"Oh, my God. Someone stole my headband, how mean! It costed, like, fifteen dollars!" Krystal, one and only. I glanced at Hayley and saw from the disgusted look on her face that she could hear her too.

As we continued walking her whining got even more and more annoying. I personally didn't know it was possible. Then Hayley bent down and picked up a black headband with a matching black bow on it. She looked at me as if asking for confirmation if it was Krystal's 'fabled headband' and I shrugged.

She tapped Krystal lightly on the shoulder, she swung her head around immediately and glared at Hayley. Hayley opened her mouth to speak but already Krystal's eyes were on her headband. Her eyes went wide and she snatched it out of Hayley's grasp in one quick movement.

"You stole it!" she cried shrilly, Hayley looked questioningly at Krystal and tried to form a sentence that consisted of 'No, I didn't'.

"But she didn't, we found in the dirt just now," I said, trying to help out Hayley a little bit.

"You liar, you had it the whole time," she denied, steeling herself Hayley spoke.

"Not lying, we literally just found it."

"Of course you did, so predictable," Krystal muttered, I came up on one side of Hayley while Matt came up on the other.

"But it's true," he said, though his efforts to persuade Krystal were all for naught.

"Spare me your lame excuses," she said with such snob it took me everything I had not to slap her, "I'll just get you in Detention, you wait. You will be my first target."

Hayley snickered as Krystal's group came to a halt with they're limousine parked and ready in front of them. Hayley glanced back at me before turning to Krystal and grabbing her shoulder just before she got into the limo.

"Bite me," I heard her whisper before she let her go and came back where Matt and I were staring at her in shock.

"Bite me?" I repeated, there was a pause.

"Hayley you don't go around making enemies this early in the game," Matt scolded, he was usually a lot more laid back than this. Hayley looked slightly guilty by this scolding.

"Come on Hayley," I sighed, she turned her eyes to me before I continued, "Have I taught you nothing? You insult her before you threaten her." The guilty look was automatically replaced with mischief and the corners of her mouth turn upwards. Matt, who looking a little tense sniggered and shook his head.

Our black limousine pulled up on the side of the path and we filed in. We gaped at the massive spacious interior with luscious leather seats and a small bar opposite the door. I sat down next to it opened the bar fridge, in there were many assorted soft drinks and juices. I pulled out a can of Sprite and turned to the rest of the people in the limo.

"Anyone want anything?" I asked politely as we started to slowly roll away from the path and out of the school. There were a few shakes of the head. Declan, Hayley and Mr Crosby nodded. I turned my body half to the fridge to signal I was ready for their orders.

From Declan was a Coke, from Hayley was an apple juice and from Mr Crosby was another apple juice. I quickly gave them what they wanted and closed the fridge. The tension in the air quickly returned as Hayley screw open the lid on her juice.

"Well, how was everyone's meetings with their families?" Our teacher asked, trying to break the tension. It didn't work, no one replied and made the silence even thicker. I was going to answer, I took a breath and opened my mouth but I didn't really want to relive it.

"Okay, how do we all feel about this?" he tried again, this time he got a response. Many responses. First it started off with comments like 'I'm freaked out' and 'I'm gonna die!' I could see that although Mr Crosby was expecting this he was still slightly distressed.

"I think this is all very glamorous, what they doing for us," I stated over the noise, everyone quieted a little a nodded thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Gibbo agreed, "If you think about it, they're going to an awful lot of trouble to get us to go into it." Declan and Ross stared at their friend.

"I think we should all take advantage of it, 'cause this isn't going to be how we'll live in Detention," Hayley piped up.

"We should live like it was our last week!" Declan said excitedly, that was followed by many strong agreements. No one commented that it might actually be our last week because that would have killed the vibe. There was excitement in the air, that was something I never thought I would see during my time here with these people.

The rest of the limo ride mainly consisted of suggestions of what wonderful luxuries would come to us later on in our adventure. There were suggestions so crazy like a helipad on top of the train – that one came from Declan – and other ridiculous ones that we started to make a joke of it. I made people laugh with my idea of have a water slide on the roof of the train and sliding off.

I saw the train station coming up to meet us as I finished off my Sprite, Hayley noticed it too. I gave her a smile as she stood up as straight as she could in the limo. Mr Crosby went to pull her back down but she shook her head at him. Everyone quieted down as they looked at Hayley.

"I hope we can stay like this for the rest of our time here, friends," she said meaningfully, I stared around the limo looking for anyone willing to challenge this proposition. No one did. As the limo pulled up to station and we got out, we walked proud. We walked as if we were one. I saw a few faces in the windows watching us go by.

'Let them watch,' I thought to myself maybe they could even be scared of us in later times. Who knows? I heard a gasp from up ahead, Gibbo and Ross were already in the carriage and the rest of us quickly followed. And oh, my God!

We were standing in some kind of dining slash kitchen area and it was beautiful. In front of me was a beautiful sitting area with plush royal blue armchairs and couches, a coffee table sat in the middle of it. Lamps were dotted around the place and there was a wide window exactly opposite the door I was standing in. Then there was a dwarf wall separating that from the dining room which was connected by a kind of doorway. In the dining room was another wide window and a large oak dining table with eight seats around the edges.

And just beyond that was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. It walked into a small open planned kitchen with a buffet against the far wall. Petit, carefully decorated cakes sat on trays along with two glass dispensers, one filled with orange juice, the other with a brown liquid which I thought was hot chocolate.

"Holy shit," whispered Gibbo as he stepped into the carriage. The spread of cakes, sandwiches and drinks was enticing to us all and soon all of us – minus Mr Crosby – were standing around, grabbing cups and plates from the cupboards in the kitchen and then moving onto grab the food laid out for us.

One by one we went to sit with each other in the small sitting area. I sat next to Hayley on a couch while Matt sat on the floor at my feet. Ross sat in an armchair next to me and Gibbo was on one on the other side of Hayley. Declan was next to Matt and the other two girls were on the other couch.

We continued our conversations of design as we ate what we had gathered. Some of the suggestions were for laughs, others were serious and, I must admit, very smart.

Suddenly a very loud "All aboard?" was called out from the outside of our carriage. We all quickly put our plates in a container labelled 'Dirty' and rushed to the windows. The door to our carriage closed off and sounded like it sealed. With Gibbo and one of the mystery girls beside me we stared out the window. There was the sound of a whistle and then the sudden jolt of us moving forward, I heard a squeal from the group at the other window.

I ran around the other side to see Matthew holding Hayley's hand, it looked like she had almost fallen over. I smiled as he pulled her back onto her feet.

"I see how it is," I interrupted, Hayley's head swung towards me and she giggled.

"Oh yeah, Matt. Real smooth," came Gibbo's voice from behind me. That earned a chuckle from him.

Mr Crosby walked in and smiled. "I'm glad you're all so happy."

"Do you have any more information on what's going Mr Crosby?" Hayley asked, brushing some hair out of her eyes. He shook his head solemnly and Hayley shrugged.

"But I do know that you have some bedrooms that need to be explored." Everyone looked at each other before rushing to the door that connected our carriage to the others.

"It's the other door." We sprinted to the other end to the train, pulled open the door and walked into the next carriage. I was expecting some kind of a gap where the carriages connect, but there was none.

Down it was a hallway with four doors, it had a girl's name on a specific door. While the boys ran to the end of this carriage and flung open the door, I found my room and slowly opened the door. It was my very own bedroom with an ensuit off to the side in another room. The bed – queen sized bed – was in the centre of the room, a chest of drawers was pushed up against the wall I shared with Hayley. There was a plush armchair the same as the royal blue ones from the sitting area next to the door as you came in.

Everything was either in a royal blue or rich crimson with accents of gold and silver. Red and blue, my two favourite colours. Had they really gone to all this trouble? I then had the sudden urge to go and jump on the bed. I closed the door behind me and made sure I had locked it before running up to the bed and throwing myself on it. I smiled as I was enveloped in softness. I then climbed to my feet and started jumping up and down like I was a little kid on a trampoline. I laughed as I listened to the springs bend under my weight then release as I was launched into the air. I jumped so high I touched the roof!

I smiled, jumped and landed on my back on the bed. It was paradise on wheels. And best of all, everyone was in it together.


End file.
